269 
THUNBERGIA AURANTIACA. 
(orange-flowered THUNBERGIA.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
DIDYNAMIA. ANGIOSPERMIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
ACANTHACE^. ^ 
Generic Character. — Vide vol. iii. p. 28. 
Specific Character. — Plant herbaceous, hairy. Stems numerous, twining. Leaves partially hastate, 
acunainate, hairy, with winged petioles, which frequently have irregularly indented margins. Calyx 
with two large, persistent, exterior envelopes, pale green. Corolla monopetalous ; limb five-parted, 
divisions nearly equal, rounded, bright orange ; throat hairy in the inside, very dark purple. Stamens 
inserted in the tube of the corolla, scarcely half so long, beautifully beai'ded. Style nearly twice 
the length of the stamens. Stigma concave, with a protuberant horn. Capsule almost globular, 
but having a conspicuous beak arising from its centre. 
Seldom have our pages been embellished with a representation of a more showy 
plant, or one better deserving universal and lasting dissemination. Wherever its 
near ally, T. alata^ is known and esteemed, — in fact, to every collection which 
comprises the appurtenance of a single frame or greenhouse, — this delightful species 
must, immediately on being witnessed, become an indispensable desideratum. 
It is no mean characteristic merit of this plant, when conjoined with its 
surpassing beauty, that it will flourish with almost equal vigour in a stove, a green- 
house, a house of an intermediate temperature, and, for a certain period, in the 
open ground. In all these situations, if proper attention is bestowed on the due 
maintenance of such atmospheric or other conditions as are especially requisite, the 
most perfect success may invariably be attained, and a truly dazzling display of its 
brilliant blossoms secured in little short of perpetuity. One still more interesting 
property, however, to those who can afford it room in a house of a temperature 
slightly above that of the greenhouse, is its profuse production of flowers through 
the most dreary winter months. 
To all these encomiums, we are aware that the old T. alata is fully as much 
entitled, except that it is infinitely inferior in the richness and size of its flowers. 
On these last features, indeed, the chief distinction from that species depends. We 
